I Knew Him So Well (don't ask me why)
by Matrix14
Summary: It's twenty years since Hogwarts and Ginny has something to tell Harry. But after twenty years of separation from his friends, will Harry be able to handle the news? read on to found out....(dun dun DUN!) i'm sorry, I know I suck at summaries, just r/r.


I Knew Him So Well  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harry Potter, Order of Merlin First Class, head of the Dark Magic Prevention Team at The   
Ministry of Magic, pushed through the crowds of Diagon Alley as he hurried to Florean   
Fortescue's ice-cream parlor. He checked his watch and cursed as he realised he'd got half an  
hour to wait. Why'd he always turn up early when he was nervous?  
  
He sat down at one of the tables and waited for Florean to come over. He leaned back in the   
chair and breathed deeply. It was good to be back after so many years. He gazed around at the   
hordes of excited wizards and witches all crowding round different display stands at the   
Apothecary's and saw two old ladies squabbling about the price of shredded mandrake. Three  
children ran past the table clutching between them a large bag of sweets that looked as if it was   
about to burst and a group of teenagers looked longingly at the 'Firebolt Excalibur' broomstick  
which was on display in the window of 'Quality Quidditch Supplies'. A mother and her daughter  
walked past holding various bags of shopping which Harry guessed contained Hogwarts robes  
and textbooks. He smiled to himself as he remembered shopping for the new school year with  
Hermione and Ron, Hermione invariably buying fifty books more than was necessary and   
having to get Harry and Ron to help her carry them.  
  
His train of thought was broken by the friendly voice of a now quite elderly Florean Fortescue,  
"Harry! Good to see you again!" He exclaimed. Harry smiled up at him.  
"You too. How's it been going?" He asked.  
"Everything's been fine here. Business is up anyway." Florean indicated the large crowds of   
children swarming round the tables. "What brings you back here after all these years?"  
"Oh, I'm meeting an old friend." Harry said vaguely, not really wanting to go into too much  
detail.  
"I understand. Old girlfriend is she?" Florean winked at him, "Say no more. What'll you be   
having?"  
"Nothing for the moment, thanks. Can I just wait until they arrive?"  
"Okay." Florean smiled at him again. "After all these years." He said thoughtfully, "No one  
thought you'd ever come back."  
"Couldn't keep myself away." Harry grinned.  
Florean moved off to take orders of other customers and Harry sank back into his thoughts.  
  
How long ago it seemed that he'd stepped onto the train that would take him to Austria. How   
long ago that he'd said goodbye to everyone he knew to find a new life. Well, almost everyone.  
She hadn't been there to see him off, and he suspected that was just as well. He might have   
stayed otherwise. For twenty years he'd hidden himself away in different countries, hoping that  
no one would find him, enjoying the solitude that he'd had. But then the letter arrived one   
morning while he was having breakfast and it had suddenly been time to go home.  
  
He'd got lines on his face that hadn't been there before, he'd got slight bits of grey in his hair  
that hadn't been there before, and he'd got a different personality that hadn't been there before.  
He was tired of life on his own and ready to call up some old aquaintances. Hermione had been  
easy to find on account of her being a Hogwarts teacher, but Ron had taken months to locate.  
Harry had finally found him in Germany, married with three kids and a beautiful German wife.  
Harry had been envious of him with his good job, his cosy family, his nice house. He had all the   
things that Harry hadn't got, things that Harry had never wanted until then, and he'd given Harry  
some useful advice. Advice that Harry had taken him up on.  
  
So Harry had returned to London, got himself a job, and tried to find what had drawn him back  
after so many years. Her.  
It had just been that single letter three years earlier that had prompted him to get in touch with  
people, find out what had happened to her. He had been scared that she'd have changed, or  
moved away like he did so he couldn't find her. But he found her, with Hermione's help, and  
arranged to meet her here. He knew that she'd married and had children, but her husband had   
died at the wand of a Ministry official and since then she'd withdrawn from public life, blaming   
the Ministry for being left with two children to bring up on her own, making no secret of her   
hatred for them, not because they killed her husband, but because they'd made her a prisoner  
in her own life.  
  
All of a sudden, he felt a tap on his shoulder.   
"Harry?" Asked an uncertain voice. He turned and looked up at her. It was her alright, but she'd  
changed so much. None of the sparkle or life was there anymore, she was like him, older and   
with more pain inside her than anyone knew.  
"Ginny?" He stood up, "Hi."  
"Hi." She kissed him uncertainly on the cheek, very formally, with no feeling, and Harry could  
feel the fear eminating from her. He gazed at her for a minute, then realised his manners and   
pulled out a chair for her.  
"Here, have a seat."  
"Thanks." She sat down and perched on the edge of the seat tensely.  
"So...It's been a long time."  
"Yeah..." She looked at the table, keeping her anywhere but on him.  
"Umm...How've you been?" He asked gently.  
"Oh, I've been okay, you know. Got married, had kids. You know." She repeated. "You?"  
"Oh, travelled, seen a lot. Never got married, never had kids."  
They sank into and uncomfortable pause and Harry fished around for something to say,  
"It's been -" He began at the same time that Ginny said,  
"How long -".  
"I'm sorry." He apologised, "You go first."  
"Thanks. How long has it been?"  
"Twenty years." Harry said wistfully.  
"Why now?" Ginny asked quietly.  
"What do you mean, 'why now' ?"  
"When you left, everyone thought you were gone for good, and then fifteen years later I hear  
about you in Bulgaria so I send you a letter, and now you're here. Back in London."  
"I just decided now was the time to come back to my roots." He tried to smile, but failed.  
"I suppose Ron told you what happened?" Ginny asked.  
"You mean with your husband?"  
"Yes."  
"I'm sorry." Harry didn't feel sorry. Why should he for someone he'd never met?  
"I'm not." Ginny said flatly, "He was a bastard. He had it coming."  
"What do you mean?" Harry said, shocked.  
"We'd split up. He'd had some kind of dodgy thing going on with the Malfoys and in the end it  
backfired. He hadn't meant for me to find out, but I saw some papers in his office. Malfoy  
and him got mixed up with dark magic and it killed them both." She shrugged, "Like I say, he  
had it coming."  
Harry didn't know how she could be so blase* about losing her husband.  
"I'm sorry." He stammered again, for no reason what so ever.  
"And I wish everyone would stop telling me how sorry they are." She glared at him. "Everyone  
hated him, and he knew it. He even knew I hated him in the end."  
Harry was shocked that Ginny had changed so much. How could she be so cold? Mind you, he  
was hardly the same person he was twenty years ago either.  
  
It wasn't just in attitude that she'd changed as well. Instead of being a small, thin girl with masses  
of flame-like hair, she was a slim thirty eight year old with frown lines and an air of rigid  
independence, her hair tied back and tamed with an elastic band. She was still attractive in a   
more mature way, and Harry found it suprising that she hadn't married again after her husband's   
death, which he knew was seven years ago. As he studied her face, he knew she was doing the  
same to him, evaluating the changes that had taken their toll on their appearances.  
  
"The years have been good to you." He said.  
"You too." Ginny replied. She took a deep breath, as though she was phsycing herself up to say  
something important, "We need to talk about what happened."  
Harry nodded. He needed to know why she'd said what she did that made him flee the country.  
"But it was so long ago..." He half heartedly put up some token resistance.  
"I need to explain." Ginny began.  
"No. You don't need to explain. I know that you weren't ready for it. It wasn't your fault, it was  
my fault." Harry interupted. He cringed at the thought of what he'd done all that time ago.  
"It wasn't your fault." Ginny sounded miserable.  
"But if I hadn't been such an idiot and rushed everything -" Harry said as he remembered that  
day in the common room.....  
  
  
~~~~FLASHBACK~~~~  
  
Ginny and Harry were sitting together in the Gryffindor common room. They were alone  
because most people were packing their trunks ready to leave the next day on the train.  
  
Harry looked down and noticed that Ginny was asleep against his chest. He smiled and kissed   
the top of her head. He was pleased for the peace and quiet, he had been getting more and more   
depressed by the subdued hush that followed him round the school. Since the accident, every  
single person in the school had been severely affected.   
  
Proffessor Snape was engaged. He had been up in the Owlery. No one was quite sure why  
he had been up there at two thirty in the morning, no one was quite sure who had been up there  
with him. Maybe it was his fiancee (that still sounded weird to Harry, that Snape was 'in love').   
But the whole school heard a cry of shock, followed by a sickening thud. They found him below  
the window, his neck broken and his skull fractured. He was already dead.  
  
Since Snape had got engaged, he was as if he was a new person. Only Harry knew why this was.  
Snape had been in love with Lily when they were at school, and his heart had been broken when   
she had married James. Meeting someone else had 'freed him'. Harry shuddered at the thought of  
Snape being in love with his mother.  
  
Ginny moved and woke, interupting Harry's train of thought. He took a deep breath and readied  
himself for what he was about to do.  
"Ginny." He said.  
"Hmm?"   
"Can I ask you something?"   
"Yes..." Ginny said suspiciously.  
Harry slid out from under her and knelt on the floor, facing her. He saw the look of shock on her  
face as he produced from his pocket a small box. He opened it and presented it to her.  
"Ginny, will you marry me?"  
Ginny was speechless. She sat and stared at the ring, then got up and ran to her dormitory.  
  
~~~~END FLASHBACK~~~~  
  
  
Harry winced as the memories came back. Ginny noticed and gave him a very sorry look of  
regret and something else that Harry couldn't but his finger on...not quite guilt...  
"Harry, I'm sorry, but there's something I have to tell you."  
"What?"  
"When I married Eddie, I had a daughter."  
"I know. Ron told me. Sharey, wasn't it?" Harry asked, puzzled as to where this was leading.  
"Yes." Ginny paused. "Well you know that night?"  
Harry nodded. He knew that she meant the night before he proposed to her. It had been the first  
night for them.  
"What about it?"  
"I don't know how to tell you..." Ginny's voice broke and she stopped to hold a trembling hand  
to her mouth.  
"Tell me what, Gin?" Harry said gently.  
"She's yours."  
"What?" Harry couldn't quite believe he'd just heard that.  
"For God's sake, Harry! You heard what I said!" Ginny had tears rolling down her cheeks.  
"I know I heard what you bloody said!" Harry half shouted, attracting the attention of the other  
customers. He lowered his voice and continued, "She's mine?!"  
Ginny nodded, barely controlling her tears.   
"She's yours."  
"Why didn't you tell me, Ginny!"   
"Because I'd already left by then! I didn't know where the hell you were, and I knew I had to   
someone to look after me. I found Eddie, and he did!"  
"She's my daughter, Ginny! I HAVE A DAUGHTER!" He yelled at her. Ginny sobbed into her   
hand and got up. "Are you going to run away again?!" He asked. She gave him a terrified glance  
and started to walk away down the street. "Ginny!" Harry called after her, "Ginny, please don't!  
I need to talk to you! We need to sort this out!"   
She ignored him and began to run away, her head in her hands.  
Harry sank down and sat in his seat, staring numbly at the seat opposite him.  
  
Ginny ran out of Diagon Alley and into muggle London. She had tears streaming down her face  
and she raggedly brushed at her face with a hand to let her see. She rushed across the street to   
get back to the house straight away. Her daughter was celebrating her twentieth birthday and   
she had to get back in time.  
  
Ginny never saw the bus that hit her.  
  
~~~  
  
Harry sat and stared at Ginny's grave. He felt the tears trickle silently down his face. He felt a   
hand on his shoulder.   
"Harry. Let's go." Sharey said gently.  
He nodded slowly.  
He'd had Ginny, he'd lost her, he'd found her again, and then once again he'd lost her.   
  
And now, a year on, he'd gained a daughter.  
  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Disclaimer: Roses are red,   
Violets are blue,  
Me no own,  
So you no sue.  
  
All things bright and beautiful, Harry Potter books and all, All things wise and wonderful, J.K.  
Rowling made them all!  
  
Author's Note: Hiya, peeps! I'm baaaack! (multitude of groans from readers) oh, shut up!  
  
Hi to Ellie, Ro, Jenni, Katie and Nish (Ish the Fish).  
  
Please please please read the fics by : silent bliss, miss420, kungfu_kitty........they rock!  
Oh yeah, I'd like to advertise: www.angelfire.com/scifi/mainlystargate for anyone who is a fan   
of 'Stargate: SG1'. It's an amazing site dedicated to Stargate by Maria Raja, who is also an   
author on ffnet. Check it out.  
  
Please review......Thanx.  
  
* That word should be pronounced 'blarzay', but I haven't got a french accent sign on the   
computer so I can't spell it properly.  



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